Soul Food from my Childhood

As some of you know, we are opening a small food shop in a city on the southern part of the Philippines.

One of  our special offerings is a snack that me and my cousins grew up with. It is a specialty of  our grandmothers in Ilocos, where both of my parents are from.

It is orange and crispy and full of vegetable goodness.

It is the kind of food that  crackles  and comforts. Something delicious to pick up the mood after a bad day.

My lola loved to eat this with the traditional dark cane vinegar sourced from Ilocos.

We, the younger ones, prefer catsup and a tall glass of coke to round up our meal.

A few months ago, I went home to Ilocos to learn the basic recipe from my cousin, who owns a famous empanada shop in Batac., with the goal to introduce this snack to the south.  After so many recipe tweaks, we have finally made our very own Nanna’s version of  the  beloved and most cherished Ilocos Empanadas! We will be rolling out the products in a few weeks’ time!

We have added our own distinct taste to  the vegetable fillings, adjusted the crispiness of the yummy crust (we love it crisp as chips!)  but still stayed true to the essence, the goodness of our grandmother’s basic recipe, upholding the authenticity of the Philippines’ only rice-papaya-and mongo based empanada.

Though I cannot share the exact recipe for our empanadas, here are some images for you to appreciate the deliciousness of the snack our family have feasted on for generations.

The filling: a mixture of vegetables, an egg and longganisa ( The  Philippines’ garlicky version of frankfurters)

The crust: orangey crispy and super light crust made of ground rice.

Fried to deliciousness.

Crisp and Ready to eat! You may try eating it with Ilocos vinegar or ketchup.  Guaranteed yumm-o!